Memories
by Little Miss Writing Prodigy
Summary: ONESHOT Everyone has a dark side, he doesn't let it show a lot of times, but he's dangerous when he does. There's just one single person that can calm him down without even trying. {RobRae}


_**Okay, here's the thing.**_

 _ **Everyone has a dark side, including the Titans. (Although I am having my doubts about Starfire...) Cyborg has a dark side (you should have seen him when he woke up to find himself like...'that')**_

 _ **Raven most certainly has one, maybe more, I don't know.**_

 _ **BEAST BOY has one! He struggles daily with his beast and the death of his parents, he had a seriously tough childhood after they died. He blames himself for it, not to mention how many times he got kidnapped because he was 'interesting'.**_

 _ **And then there's Robin. Well...just read the story.**_

* * *

There was a reason he left Gotham.

Sure, he had an argument with Batman, but when he was in a good mood, Robin could understand why his adopted father acted so drastically. He had gotten shot and almost killed by the Joker, it was the push Batman needed to let him go after the _many_ times he witnessed his son almost die.

But that didn't mean Robin wasn't mad at him for 'firing' him.

He loved crime fighting, loved the feeling of doing something good. It was a great feeling compared to the helplessness he felt when his parents fell to their deaths.

He felt so... _helpless,_ small, unable to do anything. He hated the feeling, everyday he wondered that if he had warned his parents about the conversation he heard between the circus' manager and Tony Zucco, maybe they would've been alive.

He could've done something to stop it, he _could've,_ but he didn't.

He hated himself for it.

He missed the feeling of flying through the air while performing, hearing his mother call him 'Little Robin' because he ironically reminded her of one when he was on stage. Missed the feeling of happiness whenever his father looked at him with pride, and, as much as he _hated_ to admit it, he missed Bruce.

Batman took him in, raised him, trained him to be the person he was now, trained him to do everything in his power to do good and be a hero.

As much as Robin tried, it didn't always work out.

He had gone through too many traumatic experiences, his parents, Two-Face, Joker, Jason. It was too much for him to handle, and at very rare times, he broke.

He never actually had a serious mental breakdown, whenever the memories became too much for him he just froze in place, staring at nothing as all the bad memories flashed before his eyes. Either that or...he went out.

Whenever he did, he was brutal, merciless, uncaring, violent, _dangerous._ Just...not like himself.

He hadn't done that while he was in Jump City, didn't feel the need to. But in Gotham, it was a different story.

The city held too much bad memories, sometimes he'd see an old Haly's Circus poster whenever he went to school or home. Or he'd be reminded by it on the news, or the villains that traumatized him the most decided to make a reappearance, forcing him to dress up and go after them.

He didn't mind, but he couldn't ignore that feeling of _fear_ whenever he heard the name Two-Face.

Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Penguin, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Mr. Freeze. Those were no problem for him, hell, he could even handle the Joker to some extend. The clown scared him, but Two-Face terrified him.

Ironically, Joker was way more dangerous than Two-Face.

But the Clown Prince of Crime had never traumatized him to the point Two-Face had...excluding the incident with Jason. What made it worse was that The Boy Wonder had almost _killed_ the coin-tossing man, the fact that someone could drive him that far...it terrified him more than the man itself.

So his not-so-serious-mental-breakdowns were triggered a lot in Gotham. He didn't get sad, he got _angry._

Whenever Bruce allowed him to patrol on his own, Robin quickly found himself taking out his anger on thugs or muggers that happened to commit crimes on the worst time they could've chosen.

The Boy Wonder would save the person first, then go back for the thugs and lead them into an alley. He'd leave the alley with bloodstains on his costume, none of it his own.

Of course he never went as far as killing them, but he did injure them pretty seriously. He couldn't stop himself, whenever he got started and the anger kicked in, he was like a _machine._ Not caring about a thing, just wanting to finish the task at hand.

Robin suspected Batman knew of his late night activities, it was different than what other teenagers did, that was a fact. But if The Dark Knight knew about it (which he most definitely did) he didn't show any sign of it. He'd just glance at the bloodstains on Robin's costume when he got home and sighed.

He couldn't blame the boy, really, he was just glad he didn't kill them. Besides, Batman had to admit that he himself wasn't the _kindest_ when it came to knocking people unconscious.

When Robin moved to Jump City however, it stopped.

Mostly because of a certain empath.

The half-demon just had _something_ that calmed him down instantly, just by looking at her he felt all the anger disappear. He knew she wasn't messing with his emotions, he didn't even know if she had that power.

But sometimes, his anger slipped through, and ironically, it was because of Raven.

Whenever he saw her hurt, all of the anger and hate for the people that hurt and traumatized him, everything that he kept bottled up. It exploded.

His fighting style shifted from controlled to wild, and instead of lightly knocking people out, he made sure they got knocked out with bruises, maybe a little blood for color.

The Titans feared him or didn't quite trust him whenever he was in that state, but they could understand. They didn't know much about his background, but they knew Gotham wasn't a nice city to live in, they knew he witnessed loved ones die at a young age. Not how, not why, not when, that was the only information they knew.

Except for Raven, she had been in his mind, she had seen a lot. That, and the fact that he told her a lot.

She also knew that he hated himself for multiple reasons. Not warning his parents, not being as good as Batman (this mostly came up when a mission failed), not being able to keep the team together when there was a fight. And whenever he lost control of his temper.

It didn't happen a lot, Raven made sure she stayed safe...as safe as you can be when you're fighting crime. She made sure she didn't get captured or fatally wounded, those two things seemed to trigger Robin's anger the most. If she got injured or a bit shaken up, maybe even a broken arm. Sure, he'd get worried, but he didn't make a big deal out of it. He knew she was a strong person and could handle a lot, so he didn't lose his temper.

But when she got injured in ways she couldn't heal herself immediately, _that's_ when he lost it.

It came too close to home, the feeling of losing a loved one in a horrible way. He had to suffer from that feeling twice, more than enough.

* * *

It was happening again.

Raven could feel the pleading stares of her teammates, telling her to go help their friend and leader.

They had all been minding their own stuff when Batman flashed on the screen, out of respect for his privacy, they left the room, leaving Robin alone with his former mentor. (Although they had to drag a curious Beast Boy from the room)

They didn't know what happened, but it left him irritated. He hadn't said a word to them, only acknowledging them with a nod before going to the gym to blow off some steam, locking himself in his room afterwards.

That was two days ago, he only left his room when there was trouble in the city.

Raven sighed and set her book down, disappearing before the others' eyes shortly after.

She reappeared in front of Robin's room, knocking lightly and keeping tabs on him through their bond.

He was awake, just ignoring her.

"Robin," she spoke, her voice flat. "Open the door or I'm coming in myself, and you know I will."

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

The door opened and she didn't even have time to blink before she was pulled in.

"Oh," her usual monotone vanished as surprise laced her voice, she tried her best to not show any type of sympathy. He hated that, made him feel weak.

On his desk were multiple newspaper clippings of the 'accident' at Haly's Circus, next to them lay an open photo album.

Her eyes flickered to Robin, he wasn't looking at her. He sat cross-legged on the edge of his bed, tapping his finger against his knee and staring down as he bit the inside of cheek thoughtfully.

"Batman told me the circus was getting opened again, I'm happy, but..." he trailed off, not needing to say anything else for her to understand.

Raven calmly took the newspaper clippings, tucked them into the photo album and placed the book in one of his desk drawers. She also flipped the massive board with all the information about Slade, showing the back of the board that was empty for the time being.

She sat down beside the Boy Wonder, calmly placing a hand on his shoulder and not even the slightest bit surprised when he pulled her in for a hug instead. She simply hugged him back.

The alarm went and he sighed before pulling away.

The half-demon got up and went for the door, but he pulled her back.

Robin placed a quick, soft kiss on her lips. "Thank you," he whispered before placing a kiss on her head and allowing her to go, him following soon after.

After the mission, he was smiling again.


End file.
